Another blisteringly cold day, but not too cold for our School Bird Boat that ventured out this morning up the Wareham Channel. Once again there were plenty of Marsh Harrier buzzing around Swineham Point, plus a Peregrine bombed through. A Black Redstart was on houses along Austin Avenue, Lilliput this morning and the Northern Wheatear was still on private land at Wallisdown Waterworks. Both adult Peregrines were on the Asda building this morning, with a Water Rail head found below the feeding ledge this afternoon having been blown off the cache area. Water Rail are common night migrants during October and November, many arriving with the Woodcock from eastern Europe. With the lights of Poole making hunting easier for the Peregrines, catching passing night migrating species such as Water Rail, Woodcock, Redwing, Fieldfare and Golden Plover isn’t uncommon for them. A strong wind ofen blows the Peregrines remains off the feeding ledge, giving a great insight into what our urban Peregrines are feeding on.

Water Rail head outside Asda flats, remains of a Peregrine kill – Tanya Hart

Although we avoided the snow today, it was still pretty dang cold! Our 3-hour Winter Safari this morning certainly lived up to it’s name and the northerly wind whipped across central harbour. The icy blast kept birds low, but interestingly many Marsh Harrier were lingering around the Lower Frome, suggesting they didn’t really fancy tracking off in their normal northerly direction to go and hunt for the day, with 7-8 opting to hang around Swineham for most of the morning, plus we saw one arrive in over Sandbanks mid-morning. Out on RSPB Arne Moors there were 2 Pink-footed Geese in the NW corner, with all the Greylags and Canada Geese. Out in central harbour there was a definite increase in Red-breasted Merganser and there was a single Common Scoter. The Brownsea Lagoon held 8 Spoonbill and 500+ Avocet, along with 5 Greenshank and c100 Bar-tailed Godwit. There were also 12 Spoonbill on Shipstal Point, RSPB Arne and 1 Spotted Redshank at RSPB Lytchett Fields. There have been 2-4 Red Kite hanging around over the Swineham area these last few weeks, with 2 over Swineham GP today and both adult Peregrines were on the Asda building this morning and 10 Glossy Ibis were just south of the causeway just outside Wareham this afternoon. Finally, yesterdays finder of the Wheatear on private land at Wallisdown went back today to double check and get photos, and managed to confirm it to be a Northern Wheatear.….a great late November record, and always worth double checking!

Northern Wheatear – Wallisdown – Daniel Nash

A stunning day in the harbour! The BoPH team went out for a lunchtime twitch, with 1 Snow Bunting reported at Baiter Park. We were treated to fantastic views, feeding out on the grass and between the rocks between Harbourside 1 Car Park and the Sluice. This hardy bird, likely a first-Winter, will be from Scotland or the High Arctic! Other sightings today included a 1 female Brambling at RSPB Arne. The Woodpigeon migration continues with 21,000 over Carey and 3500 over Poole this morning, viewed from Hatch Pond. There was good visible migration at Ballard Down this morning, with 1 Corn Bunting, 1 Golden Plover, 74 Brambling, 554 Chaffinch, a few Redpoll, 1 Crossbill, and over 500 Stock Dove. 1 Yellow-browed Warbler was in the orchard at Middlebere Cottage this afternoon but not re-found later. 2 Glossy Ibis were in Lytchett Bay and the other 10 still at Swineham. Also at Lytchett Fields RSPB were 6 Spoonbill, 2 Goosander, 22 Fieldfare and 86 Dark-bellied Brent Geese. In Brands Bay there were 4 Black-necked Grebe.

Snow Bunting – Baiter Park – Brittany Maxted

It was a proper bird-filled day across the harbour today, as the winter chill began to set in. Our Winter Safari Cruise was busy from start to finish and logged both adult White-tailed Eagles, one first in the Wareham Channel, then both later in the trip along the southern shores of the harbour. At Swineham there were some great wetland birds including 8 Glossy Ibis on the pools, 1 Bittern flew over the Swineham meadows and 15 Cattle Egret were out over the Piddle Valley, plus 3-4 Marsh Harrier were floating about. A 1st winter Red-throated Diver was off Hamworthy Beach, two groups of 3 Black-necked Grebe were split between central harbour and Brands Bay, and this morning a Black-throated Diver flew into the harbour. Just off Middle Beach there were 4 Common Scoter and a Razorbill. There was a flock of 16 Spoonbill that flew across central harbour during our boat trip, then later during WeBS 18 were feeding off Shipstal Point. Wildfowl numbers have dramatically increased with large numbers of Teal, Wigeon and Pintail now back, but still only c500 dark-bellied Brent Geese. A decent sized Cormorant flock was hunting off Green Island, joined by plenty of Little Egret as the White-tailed Eagles watched on. There are now c50 Red-breasted Merganser back, mostly spread along the southern shores and in central harbour. A 1st winter Little Gull was also at Swineham and a Spotted Redshank was on Brownsea.

sinensis Cormorant feeding flock with Little Egrets and gulls off Green Island from this AM’s Winter Safari – Alison Copland

Spoonbill fly-by from this AM’s Winter Safari – Central Harbour – Mike Ixer

A dense foggy start to the day made birding tricky, but quite a few birds were on the move last night including Redwing and Fieldfare, with both being ringed under license in the Lower Piddle Valley this morning. As the fog cleared the Glossy Ibis flock consisting of 12 birds emerged on one of the pools at Swineham just south of the main gravel pit. Both adult White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel this morning. The harbour mouth was pretty quite but saw 105 Shag fly through the entrance at dawn, but no divers today.

Fieldfare – Lower Piddle Valley – Ed Betteridge

It’s still incredibly mild and not feeling like mid-November at all, which seems to be holding up lots of the winter birds. Still good birds to see with 1 Water Pipit and 1 Rock Pipit colour ringed at Lytchett Fields RSPB this morning. 1 Spotted Redshank was also present, commuting between the Bay and the Fields along with 1 Grey Plover and 6 Greenshank. The Glossy Ibis were still at Swineham in the very flooded fields, although only 5 could be picked out, no doubt the other 7 were lurking around somewhere. 1 juvenile White-tailed Eagle was seen flying from Coombe Heath, Arne and the adult female G466 dropped into the Wareham Channel this morning during our School Bird Boat. 1 male Merlin flew North over Carey, a different individual to yesterday’s bird.

Water Pipit having been colour ringed – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

Rock Pipit having been colour ringed – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

Colour Ring on Water Pipit – make sure to report any colour ring resightings – Shaun Robson

A bit of rain first thing but the recent wind and rain seems to have brought in some new arrivals into the harbour. 1 Black-throated Diver and 1 Red-throated Diver were seen flying in through the harbour entrance this morning, along with still large numbers of Shag (127). From our Winter Safari Cruise this morning we also had 2 Great Northern Diver in South Deep, 2 Common Scoter in central harbour and 5 Black-necked Grebe sheltering on the north side of Furzey Island. There were c700 Avocet on the Brownsea Lagoon, 15 Bar-tailed Godwit and 16 Greenshank. 11 Glossy Ibis were showing well at Swineham, viewed from both the boat and the two rivers walk. There were also 3 Marsh Harrier, c300 Avocet (no doubt overlap with Brownsea birds), 3 Grey Plover and 1 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel on the low tide. 1 Merlin was seen flying over Wareham Common this afternoon. 20 Spoonbill were at Shipstal point, RSPB Arne.

Avocet – Wareham Channel from Winter Safari Cruise – John Thorpe